50
36 Greta Garbo window display in
a Spanish fashion store at the time
of the release ofQueen Christina
(Rouben Mamoulian, 1933).
to the horizon as the camera nears. The shot is held, letting us know that
she is at the eye of her own emotional storm, sailing onward. It is one
of popular cinema’s most celebrated scenes, but its effect is not purely
cinematic. The image clearly echoes the countless publicity pictures that
had already made Garbo’s face famous.^30
The impeccable stillness of Garbo’s face is offset by the wind that
ruffles her hair. The little movements let us know time is passing, while
signalling the unpredictability of the future. Both photography and
cinema find this kind of chaotic movement highly photogenic. In a
publicity still from Victor Sjostrom’sThe Wind( 1927 ), a young Lillian
Gish digs the dry earth as a dust storm engulfs her. For publicity stills
hair is usually groomed to perfection, but in this still hers is a mess,
obscuring her face. The film’s real star was the
wind itself and it looks magnificent in this
technically impressive vision of semi-controlled
chaos. Gish’s apparent loneliness belies the reality
of the shoot. She recalled:
It is, without any doubt, the most unpleasant
picture [film] I’ve ever made, the most
uncomfortable to do. I don’t mind the heat so
much, but working before the wind-machines
all the time is nerve-racking. You see, it blows
the sand, and we’ve put sawdust down, too,
because that is light and sails along in the air,
and then there are smoke-pots to make it all
look even dustier. I’ve been fortunate. The flying
cinders haven’t gotten into my eyes, although a
few have burned my hands.^31
In 1993 the photographic artist Jeff Wall paid
homage to wind with an equally complex produc-
tion. HisA Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai)is a
‘decisive moment’, assembled digitally from dozens
of separately shot elements. Wall made the picture
